There’s something strangely comforting about roast chicken. It evokes memories of family meals and lazy afternoons. It’s not just a british tradition either – the French know the value of a good rotisserie and so, it turns out, do the Lebanese.

Within spitting difference of Oxford Street there’s a bold newcomer to the Soho restaurant scene. Cookhouse Joe is run by the same people as Soho Joe and it follows a similar vein – great quality, simple dishes, fun atmosphere and excellent value.

The meal started with some lovely pickles while we looked over the menu before deciding to eat, well, everything. First up was a moutabal – smokey grilled aubergine paste with some lovely warm flatbreads. Sweet, smooth and very more-ish.

Fresh off the grill – some gorgeous halloumi came next. I’m not normally a fan, but this was really good with a lovely char. Closely followed by some sticky chicken wings and a delicious lamb kofta – I adored the tabbouleh: light, fresh and wonderfully delicate. Perfect.

Some home-made falafels and tahini followed – well cooked and with a lovely spice. But it was all a build up to the main event. Superb roast chicken (free range from the west country you’ll be happy to hear). Plump, juicy and with a lovely skin it’s everything a roasted chicken should be. It comes with a choice of three sauces – lovely tomatoey chilli, garlic mayo or a cucumber/mint. The chips were fine but could do with more spice, but the coleslaw is great.

At this point I admit we were struggling – but i’m a complete sucker for anything with apple and I couldn’t turn down the chance for their home-made apple pie. It’s literally made by the owners mother and the dear woman knows what she’s doing. Rich, crumbly pastry generously filled with sweet caramelised apples and just a hint of cinnamon. Heaven.

The restaurant is new – they’ve only been open five weeks – but the service was excellent, the decor is your classic exposed brick warehouse and vintage wood (they get bonus points for using an old coffee tin as a wine cooler). They’re clearly passionate about their concept and it works – my only criticism would be the volume of flatbreads and the lack of a simple set menu – when the variety is so good having an easy ‘bring me lots’ option is the obvious choice.

The food was delicious and perfect for sharing. I applaud them for making nearly everything themselves – it’s food with real soul. Grab some mates, bag a table and munch on some top grub in a great location without breaking the bank.

Disclaimer: I was invited by Cookhouse Joe and comped the meal.

For many people barbecue conjures up images of their Dad incinerating a frozen chicken leg under an umbrella during a typically damp English summer. For Americans, barbecue is one of the most distinctive and well-loved elements of their food heritage. Styles vary wildly but at its heart it’s about good meat, slow cooking and delicious sauces. Bodeans was one of the first restaurants to bring a real taste of this to London and it had a hand in creating the current craze for pulled pork. But with the arrival of ‘serious’ barbecue places last year (Pitt Cue Co/John Salt) and their ‘gentrification’ (see Barbecoa) – is there still space for a cheaper, simpler alternative?

Bodeans have a number of outlets, most of which operate a walk-in only policy. Their Soho branch is spread over two floors, a deli/bar at ground level and a basement sit down restaurant. The décor is Americana and mimics a sports bar. TV screens show baseball and ice hockey while music is at a reasonable level – it’s a fun and relaxed environment.

The menu is a meat eaters paradise – this is not one for the rabbit food brigade. I’ve sampled a few of their dishes before (and even taken advantage of their ‘click and collect’ BBQ lunches) but this was the first time I’ve tackled the entire selection in one go. Their ‘Boss Hog Platter’ is great value and gives you short ribs, spare ribs, baby back ribs, chicken thighs, smoked sausages, burnt ends and pulled pork – with coleslaw and chips on the side. A selection of sauces (the hot chipotle is excellent) is on the table along with much needed kitchen towel.

Overall the food is good – it’s not up to the standard of John Salt or Pitt Cue Co, but it’s not trying to be. It’s simple, tasty cooking with generous portions. I’ve have liked more sauce to be applied in the kitchen, taken on its own the beef rib and the pulled pork were a tad dry, but you can fix that yourself very easily. They could also make more of the provence of their food – London is bursting at the seams with great suppliers. They offer a few desserts – ice cream and cheesecakes, but I’m a sucker for a decent milkshake.

They’re nicely thick and the ice-cream base is good quality – my only request would be to offer an alcoholic version!

If you’re looking for big piles of meat with delicious sauce and sides – you can’t go far wrong. It’s relaxed fun and a great way to spend an evening with your mates while trying to figure out how baseball works.

Restaurant rankings are a funny old game – it’s a bit like scoring artwork: terribly subjective and prone to fads, trends and conservatism. While in America systems like Zagat and their own ‘star’ system reign supreme and in the UK AA rosettes are a good indication – anywhere in the world Michelin and the ‘World’s 50 Best Restaurants’ are the gold standard.

Michelin has a reputation for being a little stuffy, a little conservative – it rewards the fine dining and reverence of tradition, though more recent additions – like the Hand and Flowers – are challenging this view. Anonymous inspectors visit restaurants several times over a period of months before meeting to agree a score.

The ‘World’s 50 Best’ or San Pellegrino rankings, is a little more relaxed – it rewards innovation and dining experience in the broadest sense. It’s voted for by a panel of some 900 respected food industry types and is updated yearly at a glamorous awards ceremony.

Only a few restaurants manage to make it onto both lists – delighting that diverse group is very difficult. I’ve been to Momofuku Ssam Bar, which was, at the time, number 37 on the list. That was a great experience – but nothing compared to this evening when I visited No. 7.

Dinner by Heston Blumental – Seventh Best Restaurant in the World, One Michelin Star

I’m a huge fan of Heston – I love his lack of traditional training, his attention to detail and his pursuit of scientific solutions to cooking problems. Dinner is his first major restaurant outside of the Fat Duck and is run by Ashley Palmer-Watts, who was instrumental to the Fat Duck gaining it’s third star and topping the San Pellegrino rankings. It does something very unique – celebrating Britain’s culinary heritage while using the latest techniques. Tradition and Cutting Edge in perfect harmony.

Situated in the opulent Mandarin Oriental hotel in Knightsbridge – the dining room is gorgeous. The kitchen has glass walls and is visible from almost anywhere in the room, which I really like! Light fittings made from antique jelly moulds provide a quirky aspect and hint that this isn’t your usual stuffy fine dining establishment.

Meat Fruit
This is one of their signature dishes – a medieval centrepiece disguising one food as another. The mandarin is in fact a delicious foie gras and chicken liver parfait, served with some excellent toasted brioche. The flavours blend beautifully – rich creamy foie gras, fragrant liver and just a gentle hint of alcohol cutting through the richness, all lifted by the sharp mandarin jelly-peel. I was delighted when the waiter spotted i’d almost demolished the brioche and still had half the parfait left – he promptly signalled the kitchen and a second slice appeared as if by magic. Excellent service.

Earl Grey Tea cured Salmon
I’m not a big fan of Earl Grey in it’s own right – I find the bergamot a little astringent, but this was delicious. The rich smooth salmon seemed to soak up the flavours of the tea, little bursts of relish and smoked roe added contrast and the sorrel was perfect – unusual and fresh.

Black Foot Pork Chop
I don’t normally order pork in restaurants – it’s easy to screw up and can be terribly bland. This has got to be the best pork i’ve ever eaten – cooked sous vide and just medium it was moist, rich and thoroughly piggy. It came with a delicious savoury glaze, a ham hock and sauce Robert. It’s sprinkled with some crispy lardo (a terribly trendy ingredient) but it did bring some lovely texture

Fillet of Aberdeen Angus

I’m wary of Angus, and especially of fillet. In my mind a steak should be a rib-eye and ideally from an English Longhorn. This was a truly marvellous piece of meat – cooked on a Josper grill with a great deal of care and attention. The beef jus was nicely reduced without being too sticky and some bone marrow on top was a lovely touch. It came with the famous ‘Triple cooked chips’ which were superb – well seasoned, very crisp but with a soft fluffy inside.

In terms of sides we went for ‘carrots and carroway’ and ‘braised lettuce and peas’. Both were excellent – cooked lettuce is fast turning into one my favourite accompaniments!

Tipsy Cake
For dessert I had to order their signature dish. It consists of a spit roasted pineapple slice, served with rich doughy cake in a sauternes and brandy cream sauce. The pineapple is a revelation – rich and sticky without the excessive sweetness you often get when it’s cooked. The cake was divine – pillowly and surprisingly light. The cream was delicious, nicely tieing together the cake and fruit.

Taffety Tart
The tart was a piece of very precise pastry work. Think of a millefeuille with a lovely complex flavour profile, first sweet, then vanilla and finally an aniseed hit.

Chocolate Ganache and Orange Blossom Biscuit
We were brought this little extra dessert with coffee – a morsel of lovely light chocolate ganache with fragrant, floral biscuit.

Conclusion
The overall experience was marvellous – they’re cooking food that you won’t see anywhere else, the service is excellent and the environment is lovely. The wine list is extensive, if a little steep but otherwise – for the quality and class – the meal represents very good value.

I love that they celebrate Britishness – both in tradition and ingredients, it’s presented in a sophisticated, modern manner, but with all the warmth and comfort of something much more traditional and closer to home. It fully deserves it’s accolades and if you love food – you owe it to yourself to visit.

Cask is one of the real joys of Pimlico. Tucked a few minutes stumble from the Tube it serves a staggering array of beer. Literally hundreds of different types are available in every strength and flavour imaginable. It’s a real celebration of malt, water, yeast and hops.

I’ve eaten here several times before, and always enjoyed the experience – pub classics with a barbecue twist. Recently however, their kitchen has been taken over by ‘Forty Burger’. As the name suggests, they do burgers made with well aged beef. On this visit we sampled their standard ‘Bacon and Cheese’ alongside the ‘Heat’ which marries blue cheese and buffalo wing sauce.

The burgers are well above average – the bun holds up magnificently, putting the fragile brioche ones found in many other upmarket burgers to shame. The patties are generously sized and are nicely beefy – but I didn’t get much ‘aged’ flavour and they were slightly overcooked for my taste, they really should be medium-rare.

The fillings were excellent – the bacon is good quality and the cheese tangy without being overpowering. I adored the Heat burger – the buffalo sauce is perfectly pitched even if the blue cheese gets a little lost. The chips were well cooked and nicely crisp – they earn lots of extra points for coming with a whole bucket of ‘Stokes’ condiments – I could eat their BBQ sauce all day.

If you find yourself in this part of town and are in need of a buzzing atmosphere, great beer and solid burgers – this is the place to go. The beer is definitely the star of the show – but the food will put a smile on your face as well.

‘Affordable French’ appears to be an emerging trend in London – both Brasserie Zedel and Balthazar have opened in recent months joining established restaurants like 10cases. They offer something a little more refined and unique than the chain alternatives – Cote Brasserie, Cafe Rouge, Brasserie Blanc et al. When Little Social was opened a few months ago it received rave reviews – serving high quality food with a modern twist – it’s been on my ‘must visit’ list for a while and I finally managed to get a lunch reservation.

Little Social is opposite owner Jason Atherton’s flagship Michelin-starred restaurant – Pollen Street Social. Minutes from Oxford Circus and just off Regent Street it’s about as central as central gets. On arrival I was warmly welcomed by the staff into a wonderful snapshot of Parisian dining: soft art-deco lighting, wood panelling, copper bar and quiet music. Perfect.

The set menu (three courses for £25) is great value but I have to admit I went a la carte. While there is a strong French influence (steak frites) there are some decidedly british dishes (ox cheek). Their wine list is excellent with several good choices available by the glass or carafe. I went with the Pollen Street Social House – a delightfully vibrant red from Anjou. The complimentary bread was delicious and still warm.

Steak Tartare
A dish this simple lives or dies by the quality of its ingredients and they didn’t disappoint. The steak was neatly prepared and carefully spiced, the quails egg was a nice touch.

Braised Irish ox cheeks, roast marrow bone with sourdough crumb, carrot, horseradish mash
The ox cheek was well cooked, with lovely smooth mash, though I didn’t get much heat from the horseradish . The roasted carrot was cooked well and I really like the bone marrow – it adds another beefy hit. The sourdough crumbs add some textural contrast and really help lift the dish.

Poutine
I ordered this as a side – it’s a slightly incongruous addition given the French slant of the restaurant but decidedly more-ish nonetheless. For the uninitiated, Poutine is a Canadian ‘delicacy’. Really good chips are slathered in cheese curds and gravy. Here they’ve also added sausage and jalapenos. Yum.

Apple and blackberry crumble, mascarpone and cinnamon ice-cream
The crumble was served with a degree of ceremony not usually accorded to this humble dessert. A bowl of cinnamon ice cream was placed in front of me before the crumble (in a natty copper pan) was gently stirred and spooned around it. The topping was full of macadamias and walnuts which added a lovely crunch to the proceedings.

Conclusion
I’ve heard Little Social mentioned in the same breath as Brasserie Zedel, but that’s really doing it a disservice. While both are harking back to an idea of French dining circa 1920 – Little Social isn’t afraid to branch out and play with the concept and delivers it to a far higher standard (with a higher price tag). The food was surprisingly original and thoughtfully cooked. Other reviewers have commented on the hovering staff, but I never felt overly ‘tended’. It’s a great dining experience and a welcome addition to the west end – I look forward to exploring the rest of their menu in the near future!